Terrorism China

The U.S. Embassy on Sunday canceled its warning of a possible terrorist attack on Americans here after China assured embassy officials that the danger is over. "The Chinese government informed us that it has taken effective action to ensure that persons who intended to harm American citizens will not be able to do so," said embassy spokesman McKinney Russell.

An explosion on a bus killed at least 16 people and injured 30 others in central China, a Chinese news agency reported. But a Hong Kong-based dissident group put the death toll at 30 and said it believed, based on the damage, that the explosion was caused by a bomb. The China News Service, monitored in Hong Kong, said the explosion occurred when the bus was approaching a bridge in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province.

The U.S. Embassy issued an "urgent notice" on Thursday warning Americans that terrorists from another country may be planning attacks on Americans living in the Chinese capital. The unprecedented warning, which came from Chinese public security officials on Wednesday, caused the U.S. Embassy to issue an alert to the 1,500 Americans living in China that they should take measures to protect themselves, said U.S. consular official Dewey Pendergrass.

In an effort to crush what it claims to be an outbreak of terrorism and separatism, the government has conducted a monthlong crackdown in China's predominantly Muslim far west, arresting several thousand people from the minority Uighur population and confiscating supplies of weapons and explosives.

In an effort to crush what it claims to be an outbreak of terrorism and separatism, the government has conducted a monthlong crackdown in China's predominantly Muslim far west, arresting several thousand people from the minority Uighur population and confiscating supplies of weapons and explosives.

An explosion on a bus killed at least 16 people and injured 30 others in central China, a Chinese news agency reported. But a Hong Kong-based dissident group put the death toll at 30 and said it believed, based on the damage, that the explosion was caused by a bomb. The China News Service, monitored in Hong Kong, said the explosion occurred when the bus was approaching a bridge in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province.

The death toll in a dynamite explosion on a crowded passenger train rose to at least 24 Tuesday, and Chinese officials labeled the incident near Shanghai an apparent case of sabotage. The explosion occurred in a lavatory on a third-class car just before midnight Monday on the No. 364 passenger train from Hangzhou to Shanghai. Eleven people were seriously injured, according to news reports. Several observers in the capital suggested that the explosion could bring a further toughening of the government's nationwide crackdown on dissidents, in which authorities announced the arrest of 15 more people Tuesday.

Agreeing to strengthen anti-terrorism cooperation, China has promised to consider letting the United States station an FBI agent in Beijing, an American envoy said Thursday. Francis X. Taylor, the top State Department counterterrorism official, praised China's help in tackling Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network. But Taylor's account of two days of talks with Chinese officials made clear that many issues still separate the two sides.

A Chinese company's gambit to drill for oil in U.S. territory demonstrates China's determination to lock up the raw materials it needs to sustain its rapid growth, wherever those resources lie. The state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp., or CNOOC, reportedly is negotiating the purchase of leases owned by the Norwegian StatoilHydro in U.S. waters in the Gulf of Mexico, the source of about a quarter of U.S. crude oil production. China's push to enter U.S. turf comes four years after CNOOC's $18.5-billion bid to buy Unocal Corp.

Point guard Andre Miller has said it several times, and so has his coach, Rick Majerus. Friday, the University of Utah said it too, issuing a statement that Miller, who played a key role in the Utes' advance to the NCAA championship basketball game, will remain in school for another season. The school put out the statement after Majerus had told a Seattle radio station Friday morning that Miller would be staying.

The death toll in a dynamite explosion on a crowded passenger train rose to at least 24 Tuesday, and Chinese officials labeled the incident near Shanghai an apparent case of sabotage. The explosion occurred in a lavatory on a third-class car just before midnight Monday on the No. 364 passenger train from Hangzhou to Shanghai. Eleven people were seriously injured, according to news reports. Several observers in the capital suggested that the explosion could bring a further toughening of the government's nationwide crackdown on dissidents, in which authorities announced the arrest of 15 more people Tuesday.

The U.S. Embassy on Sunday canceled its warning of a possible terrorist attack on Americans here after China assured embassy officials that the danger is over. "The Chinese government informed us that it has taken effective action to ensure that persons who intended to harm American citizens will not be able to do so," said embassy spokesman McKinney Russell.

The U.S. Embassy issued an "urgent notice" on Thursday warning Americans that terrorists from another country may be planning attacks on Americans living in the Chinese capital. The unprecedented warning, which came from Chinese public security officials on Wednesday, caused the U.S. Embassy to issue an alert to the 1,500 Americans living in China that they should take measures to protect themselves, said U.S. consular official Dewey Pendergrass.

The year 2001 ended with the Chinese leadership boasting a banner year of achievements: gaining membership in the World Trade Organization, winning the right to host the 2008 Olympics, qualifying for the World Cup soccer finals, hosting an Asia-Pacific summit. But the year also wrapped up with a series of events illustrating the reasons for China's fears about social instability.

One of the often-repeated observations about GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney is that, when you get down to the specifics of foreign policy, there's not much of a gap between him and President Obama. Instead, the differences are mainly in tone. At Monday's final debate between the two men, that bit of conventional wisdom may finally be put to the test. I say "may," not "will," because they've both been adept at sidestepping efforts to pin down their positions. The challenge for moderator Bob Schieffer of CBS is to push the candidates to translate gauzy rhetoric about leadership into specific policy choices, and to offer more meaningful critiques than the sort of 20-20 hindsight Romney has employed about embassy security.